The Pre will put for the first time some pressure on Apple to keep the iPhone at its best.
iPhone has been good, but Apple have also seemed slow in particular software areas, such as bluetooth devices, tethering, etc.

The Pre will put for the first time some pressure on Apple to keep the iPhone at its best.
iPhone has been good, but Apple have also seemed slow in particular software areas, such as bluetooth devices, tethering, etc.

I think the Pre will help bring the best out of the iPhone.

Yay ^.^

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I believe Apple began working on 3.0 before the Pre was Pre-viewed. Also, there have been reports that Apple had a list of priorities to add to the iPhone and copy-and-paste and MMS weren't high on that list at the time. I'd rather have the iPhone now and get free updates that add additional functionality instead of waiting 3 years for the first iPhone to come out. Things take time to develop. I think part of the reason why everyone is loving the iPhone is because we get regular free updates that enhance function and improves the iPhone. Imagine if we were still using 1.1.1? I bet next Summer, we'll see 4.0 with a ton of new features... just a guess. The iPhone OS (to me) seems like how Apple started Mac OS X. At first, OS X was lacking a lot of features but, over time Apple has improved and optimized it ever since. That's how I think the iPhone is going to be.

I believe Apple began working on 3.0 before the Pre was Pre-viewed. Also, there have been reports that Apple had a list of priorities to add to the iPhone and copy-and-paste and MMS weren't high on that list at the time. I'd rather have the iPhone now and get free updates that add additional functionality instead of waiting 3 years for the first iPhone to come out. Things take time to develop. I think part of the reason why everyone is loving the iPhone is because we get regular free updates that enhance function and improves the iPhone. Imagine if we were still using 1.1.1? I bet next Summer, we'll see 4.0 with a ton of new features... just a guess. The iPhone OS (to me) seems like how Apple started Mac OS X. At first, OS X was lacking a lot of features but, over time Apple has improved and optimized it ever since. That's how I think the iPhone is going to be.

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Most definitely. Most of us are smart enough to realise the iPhone is not the God of cell phones, or that it's perfect, but it is undeniably a great phone, and Apple does have their troubles with 1st generation products quite frequently. It's been great since day one and it's simply getting better. That's not to say there isn't some reason to complain, but it's not going to get worse.

Come on, it is what it is. The iPhone was without BASIC smartphone functions for 2 YEARS. The Pre gets hyped to no end, then suddenly, 2-3 months later these BASIC features are magically introduced. Do we really think these features were lower on the list than the calculator app and Streetview? No way. I might believe all these basic features were already developed by Apple months-years ago, but the Pre actually made them release and incorporate them into the firmware. Thank you Palm!

Come on, it is what it is. The iPhone was without BASIC smartphone functions for 2 YEARS. The Pre gets hyped to no end, then suddenly, 2-3 months later these BASIC features are magically introduced. Do we really think these features were lower on the list than the calculator app and Streetview? No way. I might believe all these basic features were already developed by Apple months-years ago, but the Pre actually made them release and incorporate them into the firmware. Thank you Palm!

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Of Course. Apple was just waiting for a true competitor to step up to the plate, and then release these features that they've probably been sitting on for at least a year.

Come on, it is what it is. The iPhone was without BASIC smartphone functions for 2 YEARS. The Pre gets hyped to no end, then suddenly, 2-3 months later these BASIC features are magically introduced. Do we really think these features were lower on the list than the calculator app and Streetview? No way. I might believe all these basic features were already developed by Apple months-years ago, but the Pre actually made them release and incorporate them into the firmware. Thank you Palm!

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How about it took them a while to do right?

Apple hasn't yet released and incorporated them into a generally released firmware, but then the Pre doesn't even have a confirmed release date yet...

To put your argument on it's head - your phone doesn't have basic features, because it isn't even on the market. You can't use the touted features, as the handset isn't available. At least you can buy and use the iPhone currently, with the option to upgrade in all of a few weeks for free.

The joys of slightly out of lock step release cycles between 2 competitors. The features took time. They don't just get some magic pixie dust and poooof cut and paste for all. I think it's possible fair to take Apple at it's word - an example being Push Notification Service (PNS). They had to go and rethink it. work on it, come back with something that was good enough.

I disagree with the OP - Apple is about to become very progressive with Bluetooth. They're likely to incorporate Bluetooth 3.0 very early, and Bluetooth 2.1/3 will be possibly a big part of interacting with other iPhones and devices in the future, through OS 3.0. They've had the hardware there for a while, but it's been dormant. The new iPhone is v. likely to be improved in this respect (802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0 likely amongst other hardware).

Tethering is up to the carrier - Apple's providing the implementation, the carrier's have to OK it.

There are other rivals - Isn't Nokia a much worthier one with Symbian? Or HTC? Or RIM? Palm currently is a one trick pony, with everything riding on it being a success it seems. it's a different take, it has some great features - but they're likely to have been being worked on in parallel at Apple also. Palm might have demoed them beforehand - Apple hasn't. Apple's had plenty of pressure without anyone - the userbase is very demanding, and gives a decent amount of feedback to them. They have high expectations. Apple's style of taking it's time to get something right can be irksome, but in the end, it's usually forgiven each and every time, even if users are annoyed for a bit by the pace they work at. It's nearly always worth the wait. Apple isn't going to have piecemeal updates every time they work on a feature - it's obvious and known they work on a yearly cycle currently, and they have a pretty well known speed at updating the SDK and OS. These updates and improvements are bundled together meaning we have to wait for them to come together rather than one by one - this way of doing it has its pros and cons. They're making an update to iPhones worth the hassle of doing it - giving the user a definite big slab of update goodness.

What a joke, what about all those other phones that came before the Pre with all those features, why don't we attribute that to them, going from how 2.0 came in March last year, and 3.0 came one year later, Apple had everthing planned before anyone even knew what the Pre was, Pre my azz.

Just look at all that was done on jailbroken phones almost immediately, without even an official SDK or insider knowledge.

Instead of hoarding billions of dollars, perhaps they should've hired more people at the beginning.... instead of advertising for Bluetooth etc engineers almost a year after showing it off.

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Jailbreak is their own problem. Apple and every other developer takes time to plan on the drawing board, code to implement, test it, debug it, beta test it with a team. I know because I've actually seen OS Development through a workshop.

Apple is a company that wanted perfection - no less, they take a long time to do something, but when it happens, it happens best. iPhone, MacBook Air, 17" MBP's Battery, iMac G4.

Sometimes it's not as simple as "Slow development, lets hire". To fully develop an Operating System, you need to start from it's core. Apple can't do everything without optimizing the core for performance, which is still evident they are doing. Some things, are more of a priority. The Jailbroken version is not optimized for the system which means it'll run slow and cause memory problems. I want to experience a perfect Copy and Paste when I use it.

Copy and Paste has been asked for so long, originally argued by haters. Lets be honest, and serious here. Before 3.0, how often have you needed to use it? I've been one of those that asked for it, but I've only needed to use it once. And it was a short piece of text, that I typed out in no time.

Palm has not made Apple do anything, no one has. Pre is Palm's life, therefore they're making a whole deal out of it, fanboys too . The iPhone isn't, Apple has 30 Billion in the bank waiting to be used. They're not desperate, they have time to slowly get things underway, and when they do - it's perfect.

Jailbreak is their own problem. Apple and every other developer takes time to plan on the drawing board, code to implement, test it, debug it, beta test it with a team. I know because I've actually seen OS Development through a workshop.

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My friend, look at my profile. I've been actually developing OS's and UI's for over thirty years; the last fifteen for mobile devices with touchscreens. I know how long something takes, I know the development cycle, and I know when things aren't planned well.

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Apple is a company that wanted perfection - no less,

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Apple put out the iPhone as soon as it could, and has winged it since then. Clearly no long term planning or "desire for perfection" was involved.

Apple obviously wanted to have a closed system, under their full control.

Jobs was against mass third party apps at the start. When he offered up web apps, it just made him look bad. Finally he relented to pressure (Android, basically) and allowed crippled native apps. This was clearly not planned out, else he would've laid out the timeline at launch instead of pulling the lame "security issues" excuse.

When it became apparent that the iPhone was too crippled without any backgrounding, they used Java's notification registry scheme but left out the ability to automatically start the target app. Then they were blindsided by the overwhelming interest from developers, and had to rethink the whole system. Not much pre-planning went on there.

Even the fingertip scrolling was an accident; something an engineer stumbled across and so it was added partway through design. Unfortunately they threw the baby out with the bathwater and forgot to give people a way to easily scroll down through long documents. Cuteness won out over usability. No planning there.

Ditto for the idea of putting all apps' settings in one place. That quickly become apparent as a mistake once more than a few apps were available. Not to mention it meant you had to leave the app to change its settings. Hard to think of anything more dumb.

Look, Apple is human. They're not the perfect mechanism young idealists wish they were. They're still figuring things out on the fly. Nothing wrong with that.

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Copy and Paste has been asked for so long, originally argued by haters.

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Okay, so you're a simple type of user. A consumer of info, not a writer or editor. Others of us use c&p all the time, to chop down paragraphs, copy URLs and other data. Believe me, it's very useful to us. I have associates who refused the iPhone on that point alone.

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Palm has not made Apple do anything, no one has.

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Good grief. ALL of the competition has made Apple add common features they left out. Same as Apple has caused competitors to step up their game as well.

What about that smelly turd also known as 2.0 (and Safari during 2.1). Remember those days? Did Apple spend their time "getting it right" that time.

Has Apple still been trying get tethering done right? Maybe they shouldn't have pulled netshare then - they could have just copied that app.

The it takes time argument rings hollow when you are a multibillion dollar company who has hired the best software engineers in the world and then you see jailbreakers running these "missing apps" just as well. Maybe Apple should hire some programers from cydia then.

What a joke, what about all those other phones that came before the Pre with all those features, why don't we attribute that to them, going from how 2.0 came in March last year, and 3.0 came one year later, Apple had everthing planned before anyone even knew what the Pre was, Pre my azz.

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Simple: those phone were ******. Did you think the Sprint Instinct was going to do anything? No, it's junk. Same with the storm. We'll have to see about the Pre. But if anything was going to make apple change it would likely be the pre.

Oh come on, people say that about every new touch screen phone that gets released

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Indeed. But late this year/next year looks considerably exciting given the amount of full screen touch phones in the pipeline and the maturation of all the different OSes and their respective app stores. Should be a great year for gadget lovers .

Indeed. But late this year/next year looks considerably exciting given the amount of full screen touch phones in the pipeline and the maturation of all the different OSes and their respective app stores. Should be a great year for gadget lovers .

Okay, so you're a simple type of user. A consumer of info, not a writer or editor. Others of us use c&p all the time, to chop down paragraphs, copy URLs and other data. Believe me, it's very useful to us. I have associates who refused the iPhone on that point alone.

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I dont' write? I write for a local Publication, HKPB as Lead Tech Writer and contribute to several Blogs. And before you say I don't write the articles on my iPhone, Yes I do. I've written it in notes and emailed to myself (haha), that's not short articles either.

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Good grief. ALL of the competition has made Apple add common features they left out. Same as Apple has caused competitors to step up their game as well.

Funny, I thought the App Store was the best thing to happen to iPhone users. Well, maybe that or 3G.

The real point is how dumb this thread is. I'm pretty sure if I had no life I could go back and find the exact same thing said about both the Storm and the G1. Both of those phones have proven to be just another model in stores. Most people I know wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about if I mentioned those two phones.

Funny, I thought the App Store was the best thing to happen to iPhone users. Well, maybe that or 3G.

The real point is how dumb this thread is. I'm pretty sure if I had no life I could go back and find the exact same thing said about both the Storm and the G1. Both of those phones have proven to be just another model in stores. Most people I know wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about if I mentioned those two phones.

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Goodness, I feel vilified!

I made the post because I honestly feel that the Pre is the first handset with real potential to gobble up some otherwise iPhone customers, to offer a comparably good phone.

I suppose my point was broader than the example I gave:
Apple is of course affected and influenced by competitive alternatives, but they haven't really been much threatened. And now they are, at least more so.

If nothing else, this post has proved an interesting platform for debate
^.^
So I'm happy.

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